Alternative Formats for SMH Blog & Twitter Account
This page displays different formats for displaying the SMH Blog and Twitter feed on your web site. These two separate widgets use the Twitter system and Widgetbox for the code that can be inserted in your web site. The other SMH page on this web site uses an "iframe" which some web technicians do not prefer. We like the iframe method because it enables us to display the entire blog, including comments.
The blog/twitter display on the right hand side of this page, using "flash" or "javascript" from widgetbox, has two panels that displays either the Twitter account or the blog posts when selected by the reader. The SMH Twitter feed can be displayed separately using a Twitter-supplied widget. Its colour and size can be modified to suit different web sites.
The Monthly Report on School Mental Health (seen below) can also be embedded in your web site, with or without the Twitter and Blog widgets. It extracts the materials identified each month by the International School Health Network and its partners. When selected by the reader, the full report is displayed on the screen. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Report on School Mental Health Promotion (SMH) Research, News and Resources Thanks to the cooperation of several organizations, the International School Health Network is able to publish monthly reports on SAP research, news and resources. This page displays the latest month in our collection. Click here to view the full report or select the monthly archives links for the previous reports as they appear.
Race, Culture and School Mental Health: An article in Issue #1, 2012 of Advancing School Mental Health explores minority cultural influences on the mental health of students, discussing a set of pathways bu which these and students, and other students, feel welcome (or not) in school.
Collaboration as Capacity-Building: Several articles in the May 2012 Issue of Psychology in Schools examine how increased collaboration among teachers and other professionals can enhance the capacity of the school to promote mental health.
Parental attachment, life events key to mental health: A study reported in Issue #2, 2012 of the Canadian Journal of School Psychology grouped students within a positive psychology framework into four categories. This study examined the contributions of personality, environmental, and perceived social support variables in classifying adolescents using Greenspoon and Saklofske’s Dual-Factor model of mental health. The researchers found that parental support/attachment and stressful life events were most influential in enabling or preventing young people to manage mental health issues.
School Discipline Policies Highlighted: Several articles in Issue #2, 2012 of Journal of School Violence for on policy choices related to school discipline, including alternatives to suspensions, restorative justice and more.
Teacher-Student Relations Less Important in School Climate: A study reported in Issue #2, 2012 of School Mental Health explored the relationship between school climate perceptions and self-reported mental health among 415 high school students. Regression analyses indicated that students’ perceptions of six dimensions of school climate (sharing of resources, order and discipline, parent involvement, school building appearance, student interpersonal relations, and student–teacher relations) accounted for a total of 15–22 % of the variance in indicators of their mental health, above and beyond between-school differences in outcomes. Parent involvement was the most consistent unique predictor of mental health. Worse perceptions of the peer interpersonal relations, equal sharing of school resources, and physical appearance of one’s school building uniquely predicted greater psychopathology (externalizing and internalizing problems, respectively). However teacher–student relations were particularly associated with wellness among girls only. Across indicators, school climate was more highly associated with girls’ mental health.
Coordinators Matter: An article in Issue #3, 2012 of the Health Education Journal describes the factors that facilitate and barriers towards the implementation of health education programmes in primary education schools of the prefecture of Achaia, Greece. Findings indicated that the most significant factor that facilitates the implementation of innovative health education programmes is ‘Knowledge and skills of the Health Education Officer and the teachers’. The Health Education Officer plays an important role in programme coordination by supporting, counselling, giving feedback and providing training/educational materials to teachers.
School Climate does not affect mental health: Review: A systematic review of interventions to improve school climate in order to improve mental health found little effect. The review, published in the May 2012 issue of Pediatrics, examined nine papers reporting 5 controlled trials were reviewed, along with 30 cohort papers reporting 23 studies. Two non-randomized trials found some evidence that a supportive school environment improved student emotional health, but 3 randomized controlled trials did not. Six (20%) cohort papers examined school-level factors but found no effect. There was some evidence that individual perceptions of school connectedness and teacher support predict future emotional health. Multilevel studies showed school effects were smaller than individual-level effects. Methodological shortcomings were common. The authors of the review conclude that there is limited evidence that the school environment has a major influence on adolescent mental health, although student perceptions of teacher support and school connectedness are associated with better emotional health. More studies measuring school-level factors are needed. Randomized controlled trials evaluating 1 or 2 environmental components may have more success in establishing effective and feasible interventions compared with complex whole-school programs.
Mental Health & Intellectual Disabillities: Felt and Understood: Two articles in Issue #3, 2012 of Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities examine the stigmatization and mental health needs of students with intellectual disabilities. The point made in both articles is that such attitudes from others are both felt and understood.
Youth Lives on the Internet: Three articles in the May, 2012 Issue of Journal of Adolescent Health explore how young people are living part of their lives on the Internet. The articles discuss how adolescents blur the boundaries online between the private and public spheres of their lives because communicating typically alone in front of a screen, rather than face-to-face, an individual receives few nonverbal cues, such as a startle response or a wandering gaze, to judge how his or her communication was received. It is this visual anonymity inherent in most forms of digital technologies that fosters disinhibition. The second article reported that females' profiles on a teen dating site were most likely to include risky content, especially sexual content. The third article noted that students who were facing both web-based and bias-based harassment were most likely to internalize the harm through substance use and mental health problems.
Peer, teacher parent support matter differently in school connections: A study published in Issue #3, 2012 of Child Development examined the relative influence of adolescents’ supportive relationships with teachers, peers, and parents on trajectories of different dimensions of school engagement. The sample consisted of 1,479 students (52% females, 56% African American). The average growth trajectories of school compliance, participation in extracurricular activities, school identification, and subjective valuing of learning were assessed. Different sources of social support were not equally important in their impact on school engagement, and the effect of these sources differed by the aspect of engagement studied. For instance, peer social support predicted adolescents’ school compliance more strongly and school identification less strongly than teacher social support.
Teen Lonliness Explained: An article in Issue #2, 2012 of Social Development delves deeply into the nature of teen loneliness and its impact on victimization.
Annual Research Reviews in Child Psychology: Several annual reviews are presented as articles in May 2012 Issue of Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry. Topics include: functional impairment, categories vs dimensions of child disorders, autism, conduct disorders and sleeping disorders.
Effects of Poverty on Mental Health of Children & Youth: An article in Issue #4, 2012 of American Psychologist illustrates how a better understanding of the mechanisms by which poverty impacts children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health is valuable in designing effective preventive interventions for those in poverty. The article also describes strategies to directly reduce poverty and the implications of these strategies for prevention. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Muñoz, Beardslee, & Leykin, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.
Integrated Networks for child and youth mental health: Several articles in Issue #2, 2012 of Journal of Canadian Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry address the theme of Integrated Networks in Child and Youth Mental Health. Examples of such networks from several Canadian jurisdictions are presented.
Is Mental Health in the Canadian Population Changing Over Time?: An article in Issue #5, 2012 of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry used data (1994–2008) from the National Population Health Survey and from a series of cross-sectional studies (Canadian Community Health Survey) conducted in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 to determine of the MH of Canadians was improving or declining. Major depression prevalence did not change over time. No changes in the frequency of severe distress were seen. However, there were increases in reported diagnoses of mood disorders and an increasing proportion of the population reported that they were taking antidepressants. The proportion of the population reporting that their life was extremely stressful decreased, but the proportion reporting poor mental health did not change. Conclusions: Measures based on assessment of symptoms showed no evidence of change over time. However, the frequency of diagnosis and treatment appears to be increasing and perceptions of extreme stress are decreasing. These changes probably reflect changes in
School mentoring programs ineffective?: A systematic review of school mentoring programs published in Issue #3, 2012 of Research on Social Work evaluated the impact of school-based mentoring for adolescents (11–18 years) on academic performance, attendance, attitudes, behavior, and self-esteem. The authors searched 12 databases from 1980 to 2011. Eight studies with 6,072 participants were included, 6 were included in meta-analysis. Studies were assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Results: Across outcomes, effect sizes were very small (random effects), and most were not significant. The magnitude of the largest effect (for self-esteem) was close to zero, g = 0.09, [0.03, 0.14]. Conclusions: The mentoring programs included in this review did not reliably improve any of the included outcomes.
News Story (Jun 1-12) Anxiety disorders in children are not detected in due time, especially in Denmark http://ow.ly/bGjwn
Research articles and reviews
Articles in May 2012 Issue of Psychology in Schools >> Introduction to the special issue: Building capacity to improve student outcomes through collaboration: Current issues and innovative approaches(pages 399–401)
>> Best in class: A classroom-based model for ameliorating problem behavior in early childhood settings(pages 402–415)
>> The incredible years teacher classroom management program: Using coaching to support generalization to real-world classroom settings(pages 416–428)
>> The integrated curriculum project: Teacher change and student outcomes within a university–school professional development collaboration(pages 444–464)
>> A model for system-wide collaboration to support integrated social behavior and literacy evidence-based practices(pages 465–482)
>> A Classmate at Your Side: Teacher Practices, Peer Victimization, and Network Connections in Urban Schools
>> The Relationship Between School Perceptions and Psychosomatic Complaints: Cross-Country Differences Across Canada, Norway, and Romania
>> An Examination of Teacher Trainees’ Knowledge of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
>> Enhancing Student Attitudes via a Brief, Universal-Level Bullying Prevention Curriculum
Articles in Issue #3, 2012 of Educational Psychology >> Associations between peer bullying and classroom concentration: evidence for mediation by perceived personal safety and relationship with teacher
>> Teaching social perspective taking: how educators might learn from the Army
>> A path analysis of basic need support, self-efficacy, achievement goals, life satisfaction and academic achievement level among secondary school students
>> Fear and efficacy appeals in the classroom: the secondary teachers’ perspective
>> Investigating teachers’ explanations for aggressive classroom discipline strategies in China and Australia
Articles in Issue #3, 2012 of Health Education Journal >> Evaluation of the MindMatters buddy support scheme in southwest Sydney: Strategies, achievements and challenges
>> Successful strategies for educating hard-to-reach populations: Lessons learned from Massachusetts’ train-the-trainer project using the Helping You Take Care of Yourself curriculum
>> Factors that facilitate and barriers towards the implementation of health educational programmes in primary education schools of the prefecture of Achaia, Greece
>> Co-morbid substance use behaviors among youth: any impact of school environment?
Articles in May, 2012 Issue of Preventive Medicine >> Associations between anxious-depressed symptoms and cardiovascular risk factors in a longitudinal childhood study
Articles in May, 2012 Issue of BMC Public Health >> "Health divide" between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in Kerala, India: Population based study
>> Effectiveness of the Strengthening Families Programme 10-14 in Poland for the prevention of alcohol and drug misuse: protocol for a randomized controlled trial
>> Rupture and repair: Episodes of resistance and resilience in teachers’ learning
>> Teachers’ workplace well-being: Exploring a process model of goal orientation, coping behavior, engagement, and burnout
>> Predicting intraindividual changes in teacher burnout: The role of perceived school environment and motivational factors
>> Beijing in-service teachers' self-efficacy and attitudes towards inclusive education
>> Exploring Australian pre-service teachers sense of efficacy, its sources, and some possible influences
>> Teacher efficacy in student engagement, instructional management, student stressors, and burnout: A theoretical model using in-class variables to predict teachers' intent-to-leave
>> Teachers’ preferences for educational planning: Dynamic testing, teaching’ experience and teachers’ sense of efficacy
Articles in Issue #2, 2012 of Social Development >> Temperamental, Parental, and Contextual Contributors to Early-emerging Internalizing Problems: A New Integrative Analysis Approach(pages 229–253)
>> Someone to Lean on: Assessment and Implications of Social Surrogate Use in Childhood(pages 254–272)
>> Loneliness and Peer Relations in Adolescence(pages 273–293)
>> Relational Aggression in Middle Childhood: Predictors and Adolescent Outcomes(pages 354–375)
>> Agentic or Communal? Associations between Interpersonal Goals, Popularity, and Bullying in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence(pages 376–395)
>> Group Influences on Individual Aggression and Prosociality: Early Adolescents Who Change Peer Affiliations(pages 396–413)
>> Tell the Teacher or Tell the Bully off: Children's Strategy Production for Bystanders to Bullying(pages 414–424)
Articles in Issue #5, 2012 of Journal of Youth & Adolescence >> Invited Commentary: Seeking a Coherent Strategy in our Response to Homeless and Street-Involved Youth: A Historical Review and Suggested Future Directions
>> Social Networks of Homeless Youth in Emerging Adulthood
>> The Role of Empowerment in Youth Development: A Study of Sociopolitical Control as Mediator of Ecological Systems’ Influence on Developmental Outcomes
>> Peer Attachment: A Meta-analytic Review of Gender and Age Differences and Associations with Parent Attachment
>> Annual Research Review: Categories versus dimensions in the classification and conceptualisation of child and adolescent mental disorders – implications of recent empirical study(pages 469–489)
>> Annual Research Review: Re-thinking the classification of autism spectrum disorders(pages 490–509)
>> Annual Research Review: Impact of advances in genetics in understanding developmental psychopathology(pages 510–518)
>> Annual Research Review: Phenotypic and causal structure of conduct disorder in the broader context of prevalent forms of psychopathology(pages 536–557)
>> Annual Research Review: Functional somatic symptoms and associated anxiety and depression – developmental psychopathology in pediatric practice(pages 575–592)
>> The effects of poverty on the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth: Implications for prevention.
>> Major depression can be prevented.
>> Child development in the context of adversity: Experiential canalization of brain and behavior.
Articles in Issue #4, 2012 of Journal of Community Psychology >> Feasibility, acceptability, and initial findings from a community-based cultural mental health intervention for American Indian youth and their families(pages 381–405)
>> Involving parents in a community-based, culturally grounded mental health intervention for American Indian youth: parent perspectives, challenges, and results(pages 468–478)
>> A validation study of the Italian version of the resilience scale for adolescents(pages 479–485)
>> Identifying Individual, Cultural and Asthma-Related Risk and Protective Factors Associated With Resilient Asthma Outcomes in Urban Children and Families
>> Longitudinal Associations Between Teasing and Health-related Quality of Life Among Treatment-seeking Overweight and Obese Youth
>> Évaluation de l’implantation des services de première ligne en santé mentale jeunesse dans Lanaudière
>> Partnership at the Forefront of Change: Documenting the Transformation of Child and Youth Mental Health Services in Quebec
>> The Family as Partner in Child Mental Health Care: Problem Perceptions and Challenges to Collaboration
>> Healthy Minds/Healthy Children Outreach Service: Lessons Learned After Eight Years
>> Mental Health in Inuit Youth from Nunavik: Clinical Considerations on a Transcultural, Interdisciplinary, Community-oriented Approach
>> An International Perspective on Youth Mental Health: The Role of Primary Health Care and Collaborative Care Models
>> Book Review: ADHD Diagnosis and Management: A Practical Guide for the Clinic and the Classroom
Articles in Issue #4, 2012 of Journal of Health Psychology >> Differences in the impact of the frequency and enjoyment of joint family activities on adolescent substance use and violence
Articles in Issue #2, 2012 of Archives of Suicide Research >> Suicide Prevention and Method Restriction: Evaluating the Impact of Limiting Access to Lethal Means Among Young Australians
>> Ethnic Differences in Risk Factors For Suicide Among American High School Students, 2009:
>> The Vulnerability of Multiracial and Pacific Islander Adolescents
>> Suicide in Young Singaporeans Aged 10–24 Years Between 2000 to 2004
>> Emotional Communication in Families of Conduct Problem Children With High Versus Low Callous-Unemotional Traits
>> Temperamental Differences in Children's Reactions to Peer Victimization
>> Social Skills as a Mediator Between Anxiety Symptoms and Peer Interactions Among Children and Adolescents
>> Testing Reciprocal Longitudinal Relations Between Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms in Young Adolescents
>> Developmental Pathways to Conduct Disorder: Implications for >> Future Directions in Research, Assessment, and Treatment
Articles in Issue #4, 2012 of Journal of Health Psychology >> Differences in the impact of the frequency and enjoyment of joint family activities on adolescent substance use and violence
Articles in Issue #6, 2012 of Substance Use & Misuse >> Psychosocial Factors in Adolescent Nicotine Dependence Symptoms: A Sample of High School Juniors Who Smoke Daily
>> Binge Drinking Trajectories from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: The Effects of Peer Social Network
>> Multiple Peer Group Self-Identification and Adolescent Tobacco Use
>> Links between alcohol and other drug problems and maltreatment among adolescent girls: Perceived discrimination, ethnic identity, and ethnic orientation as moderators
>> Paternal depression and risk for child neglect in father-involved families of young children
>> Disabled Children and their Families: A Decade of Policy Change(pages 223–233)
>> Working on Well-Being: Researchers’ Experiences of a Participative Approach to Understanding the Subjective Well-Being of Disabled Young People(pages 234–240)
>> Disabled Children's Voices: The Nature and Role of Future Empirical Enquiry(pages 251–261)
>> Sixth Sense: The Disabled Children and Young People's Participation Project(pages 262–267)
Articles in Issue #2, 2012 of Evaluation and Program Planning (Special Issue: Safer schools and healthier students) >> An application of the Impact Evaluation Process for designing a performance measurement and evaluation framework in K-12 environments
>> Quality and rigor of the concept mapping methodology: A pooled study analysis
>> An introduction to the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative
Evaluation of a complex, multisite, multilevel grants initiative
>> A mixed-method exploration of functioning in Safe Schools/Healthy Students partnerships
>> Correlates of perceived effectiveness of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative
>> A national evaluation of Safe Schools/Healthy Students: Outcomes and influences